Where is the flamingo in the food chain?

A:

Quick Answer

Flamingos are above blue-green algae, brine shrimp and plankton in the food chain and below wild dogs, crocodiles and birds of prey like eagles, vultures and storks. They have few natural predators, but flamingo eggs and chicks are vulnerable to other birds, especially if they are separate from their groups.

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Flamingos get their recognizable pink and reddish colors from carotenoids in the plant and animal plankton they regularly feed upon. Flamingos have liver enzymes that break down the carotenoids and turn them into pigments. Their beaks are used upside down and are adapted to separate undesirable matter like mud from their food. Large tongues with a rough surface assist with the filtering process.

Related Questions

A food chain is a simple sequence of organisms in which each animal or plant is dependent on the one above or below it. Food webs are more complex than food chains in that they include all organisms that have similar feeding habits. Both food chains and food webs include animals that depend on each other for food.

Tigers are at the top of the food chain in all the environments they inhabit, making them the apex predator of their respective locality. Tigers are still entirely dependent on their ecosystem, however, and although they can eat anything, their physiology means they are most nourished by hooved animals such as water buffalo.

Hyenas are apex predators that sit at the top of the food chain. They prey upon a number of herbivores, including gazelles, impalas, wildebeests and zebras. Few animals are capable of catching and killing healthy adult hyenas but lions, leopards, hunting dogs and other hyenas occasionally eat sick and young hyenas.

A food chain of the jungle can be summarized through the example of a producer, such as a plant, being eaten by a monkey, which is in turn preyed on by a jaguar. Another example is a centipede that hunts insects, but is later consumed by a toucan.